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A British Airways flight attendant sacked for turning up to work drunk tried to cover up the fact she had been drinking by pretending to read a book - only to be caught out as she was holding it upside down, an employment tribunal heard on Friday.

British Airways dismissed Helen Whitmore after witnesses reported her as being "steaming" drunk and reeking of booze when she tried to board a connecting flight to Heathrow airport, ready to start her shift later that day.

She fell over on a travelator on her way to security check-in and said she had no memory of either collapsing or the events that followed.

The hearing was told that 53-year-old Miss Whitmore blamed her fall on the menopause and said she had suffered nothing more than "a funny turn."

However, four members of airport staff said they could smell alcohol on her breath, with three of them independently saying they had seen her reading from an upside down book in an apparent attempt to cover her tracks.

Following a lengthy investigation she was dismissed from BA on the grounds of gross misconduct.

She appealed that decision but the ruling was upheld, leading to her taking the airline to an employment tribunal on the grounds of unfair dismissal and breach of contract.

Miss Whitmore claimed there were inconsistencies in the accounts given by the four eyewitnesses who said she was drunk and pointed out that none of them had mentioned in their initial statements that she appeared to be under the influence.

She had attempted to board a flight to Heathrow at Newcastle airport on October 9, 2014, at around 12.30pm. She was due to start a shift at 5.15pm on a flight from Heathrow to Hong Kong.

However she was seen swaying from side to side and stumbling while making her way to the security check-in, dressed in her BA uniform, before she fell over.

"I was feeling poorly and I was desperate to go to work. It's the behaviour of somebody who's not very well."

Helen Whitmore

Four people claimed they could smell alcohol on her breath, including the duty manager at security check-in and a policeman who later interviewed her.

However Miss Whitmore claimed the officer, Police constable Michael Jackson, could only smell alcohol on her as the interview was conducted in a bar area of the airport.

Miss Whitmore questioned why she was not breathalysed or arrested for trying to fly drunk but because she was not scheduled to be working the flight she was due to board, Pc Jackson had no legal power to do so.

She was taken off the flight but booked onto a later one, with plans being put in place for her to be breathalysed at Heathrow. However Miss Whitmore went home instead and a friend reported her as being sick.

Miss Whitmore said she wasn't aware she should have notified someone that she was going home and not getting on the 6.30pm flight to Heathrow.

Lucinda Harris, representing British Airways at the tribunal in Reading, Berks., said that the airline's facility for testing alcohol levels was at Heathrow and all staff suspected of being drunk were obliged to attend it, regardless of which airport they are based at. Miss Whitmore replied: "Had I known that at that point, I would have travelled down to Heathrow and had the test."

Miss Whitmore admitted having drunk two glasses of wine the previous evening, having her last drink before 10pm. She claimed that when she arrived at Newcastle airport she simply felt unwell and fell over after suffering "a funny turn."

She said she felt like her eyes were going to pop and she could feel palpitations.

CCTV footage taken from the airport of the moment Miss Whitmore fell over was played to tribunal judge Stephen Vowles.

Miss Harris said: "When one looks at the CCTV footage of you falling, there's no suggestion there that you lost consciousness at any point.

"What appears to happen is you drop a ticket, you go down to pick it up, and then you fall over.

"Throughout the period you are trying to get back up. It does not appear, as you seem to present it, there was a collapse and you fall unconscious."

Even after being shown the CCTV footage Miss Whitmore insisted: "I don't remember any of that at all."

However she disagreed with suggestions that she was "zig-zagging" across the travelator.

"I agree I'm not completely walking in a straight line, but I'm not staggering," she told the hearing.

Miss Whitmore, who is now training to be a nurse after being sacked from BA, said her memory of events immediately afterwards was hazy and she could not recall a lot of what had happened.

She said it was not until she sat down again in a bar area of the airport that she began to feel better.

Miss Whitmore said during the course of her disciplinary hearing with BA that she felt unwell because she was going through the menopause and had suffered a syncopal episode.

However her GP did not say in a follow-up report that symptoms of the menopause include memory loss and falling.

Asked if she had told anyone on the day that she was feeling unwell, Miss Whitmore said: "No I didn't, because I experienced it before. It comes over in waves. I knew if I just sat down for a short while I would be okay."

Miss Harris pointed out that it was the first time Miss Whitmore had said she felt this way.

"It's the first time I had actually fainted," she replied.

She said there were inconsistencies in accounts given by eye-witnesses, but Miss Harris replied: "The ones who think you were under the influence, their stories don't change.

"What's striking is even the witnesses you put the most reliance on, they report that at no point do you say you were unwell.

"You were given the chance to say you had been unwell, you'd fainted, whatever. There was no explanation for your behaviour on the day.

"You have stumbled, fallen, drawn quite a bit of attention to yourself. You've got various members of the public looking at you. Someone is sufficiently concerned to come and take you through security.

"You don't at that point provide an explanation for your behaviour."

Miss Whitmore replied: "I was feeling poorly and I was desperate to go to work. It's the behaviour of somebody who's not very well."

Miss Harris said this suggestion however was "implausible."

She said: "Given you are employed by BA, who take such accusations very seriously, you are told you are thought to be drinking. At no point do you offer an alternative explanation for your behaviour. Is that fair?"

British Airways dismissed Helen Whitmore after witnesses reported her as being "steaming" drunk Credit:
INS

Miss Whitmore replied: "I wasn't feeling well, that's why", adding that at no point during the episode did anyone ask if she needed medical assistance.

She said: "It's their duty of care to look after me. I'm a fare paying passenger. Just because I was in my uniform, I was ignored."

However Miss Harris said: "It's implausible you hadn't told anyone you were unwell. It's even more implausible when there's a suggestion of drink or drugs. You didn't, at that point, say: 'You've got this all wrong'.

"This is a point picked up by all the witnesses as surprising."

Duty manager Roxanne McKale, Pc Jackson and check-in staff Fiona Humes and Egil Paulsen all said they could smell alcohol on Miss Whitmore's breath. A further four witnesses said they did not smell alcohol however.

Miss Harris said: "Roxanne McKale comes over and sees you were trying to appear sober by reading a book, but it was upside down.

"You were under the influence of alcohol and those close enough were able to smell it. Three of them saw you reading a book upside down, which is a quite striking indication that all was not well."

Miss Harris said Pc Jackson was someone who, in the course of his job, is "often asked to form a view if somebody is intoxicated."

She said Ms Humes said the smell of alcohol coming from Miss Whitmore was a six or seven out of 10, while Egil Paulsen said she was "steaming" and "absolutely pissed."

Miss Whitmore, of Ascot Court, West Boldon, Tyne and Wear, denied being drunk and initially claimed that she was the victim of collusion amongst staff at BA and Newcastle airport who wanted her fired. She is no longer pursuing this allegation however.